Actually, I did more than survive! I had an awesome week hanging out with the craft team and meeting all the kiddos that came through the craft room. It was a lot of work getting ready and making plans, but it was so worth it!
This is my 3rd year leading crafts, and this year I had my friend Kelly as a co-leader who made the whole process a lot smoother. Every day we did a different craft, but every age group did the same craft that particular day. This really helped simplify the process--in past years I sometimes had 2 different crafts for the day depending on the ages. We did adjust some of the decorating supplies based on age, though (sharpies and paint were kept from Preschool and Kindergarteners for the most part for obvious reasons!).
We had a team of 5 women and each of us sat at a different table. Most of our tables could sit about 5 kids. After the kids found their seats, each craft team member helped the children at their particular table with the craft. I was so thankful for the team that God brought together. They were all so easy to work with and I had so much fun with them all! Here is a pic of all of us together (love that we have a rainbow of shorts on):
Each day we had 6 different classes come through our room in 2 hours...with no breaks...whew! I didn't have time to take any pics during the classes, but instead I have my amazing son Cole to model for us all the crafts that we made!
The theme of our VBS was Superheros, so for Day 1 we chose the most obvious craft--superhero masks and capes. We ordered the masks and capes from Oriental Trading Company. The capes came only in the color white, but we were able to dye them different colors. We cut out each kids first initial out of felt and had felt glue to help them adhere it to the cape. We let them use large gems, markers, and stickers to decorate their capes. They used markers and crayons to color in their masks.
Check out the cape and mask Cole made:
For Day 2 we made journals. We used simple composition notebooks found at Walmart for 50 cents each. At Michaels I found a 12 x 12 pad of paper that was superhero themed and used strips of the paper to cover the notebook logo (trying to disguise the fact that they were just basic composition notebooks). Then we loaded our tables with stickers, markers, gems, and washi tape and let the kids go nuts decorating their books.
The washi tape was a huge hit! I had found some on clearance at Michaels (75 cents a roll) and the kids loved it. It was super easy for the kids to use and it went a long way which was awesome! I joked that I did my craft duty by educating all the children at VBS about washi tape (I heard some kids calling it "washing tape" and another sweet girl called it "walkie talkie tape" lol!)
Cole has been using his journal to draw/write in during church on Sundays.
Day 3 was noisy! We made Domroo drums also ordered from Oriental Trading Company. Again we provided the kids with stickers, markers, and more washi tape. We also added in feathers, yarn and paint which was super fun.
Day 4 was tote bags (you guessed it...ordered from Oriental Trading Company). This craft is now a VBS tradition. I was kind of worried doing this craft for the third year in a row, but was encouraged when several kids asked on Day 1 when we were making the tote bags! The kids love this day because we let them use puffy paint...yes, it is crazy, but so fun (no, really it is fun...at least that's what I keep telling myself).
The last day we always do a wordless craft. This year's necklace was so cool! Sharon (craft team member) stamped out "Jesus" on over 100 washers for the necklaces. We had teachers and VBS helpers coming in and asking if we had extras because everyone loved them so much!
I am so thankful I had the opportunity to serve in the craft room for VBS again this year. I get to use something I love (crafting) to help teach children about Jesus. I love interacting with the children who sit at my table and getting to know them through the week. It's exciting to see how creative they all are and all the different ideas they come up with...so inspiring!
